“What are you doing down here, Mrs. Conti?” I whispered.

She wrung her hands, the plastic beads clicking together in the dark.

“He made me do it, Nina,” she sobbed, burying her face in her hands.

“Who did?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“Luca,” she wept. “He came to my house last night. He had pictures of my grandchildren.”

My stomach dropped, a cold weight settling in my chest.

“He said if I didn’t switch the heart pills in Alexander’s study, they wouldn’t make it to school today,” she whispered.

She looked up at me, her eyes wide and bloodshot.

“I didn’t want to do it, I swear to you. But he has men watching them right now.”

I knelt down beside her on the dusty floor, taking her trembling hands in mine.

“Where are the real pills, Mrs. Conti?” I asked gently.

“I threw them in the incinerator,” she cried. “But that’s not all. He was looking for a ledger.”

“I know,” I said. “The one in the brick wall.”

Suddenly, the light bulb in the hallway outside the cellar door flickered and went out.